Hey guys! It's the final chapter! (sniff) I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this. I really hope you enjoyed it, because I know I enjoyed writing it!
And I want to specially thank all the people who have reviewed this story, you guys give me the warm fuzzies :)
On to Act Three!
blondiebelle. livejournal .com (One more week of Dr. Horrible Stories!)
Act III
Penny's days had become a whirlwind of activity. There were news reports, interviews, and the setting up of the shelter to oversee. She looked at the badge that hung from her neck.
"Caring Hands Shelter Manager" It was a couple steps up from her old job, and the pay was more then enough to cover her and Nicole's living expenses.
"Hey guys, The beds can go up stairs!" She directed the moving men to where her boyfriend was single handedly carrying the cots up two flights of stairs because the elevator had been out of service for almost two years. Everything she had wanted to happen, had happened. Penny was pretty convinced that she hadn't stopped smiling since she started working on the shelter.
"Penny!" She heard Hammer calling her name from the second story window. Penny raced up the stared to see what was wrong.
"What?" She asked breathlessly entering on of the dorm style rooms. Penny was greeted with the sight of twelve beds lined up in the remodeled room, and her very proud looking hero standing in the midst of it all. Penny sank down onto the nearest bed, tears spilling from her eyes.
"Penny, what's wrong?" Jason asked, sitting next to her, and pulling her to him.
"Nothing. It's just amazing to see how far we've come." Penny sniffed.
"You know, we could do it on every one of these beds, and nobody would know." Penny giggled, playfully punching Hammer in the chest.
"There's an interview soon, they'd know." Penny chastised, wiping her eyes.
"Right." The interviews were rather annoying after a while. It was all the same questions, and Penny was usually ignored, in favor of her more famous boyfriend.
"But we promised."
Penny found herself alone at the laundry mat, picking at one of the pair of frozen yogurts she had picked up. She wanted to apologize to Billy for the way she had run out on Saturday. Heck, she just wanted to talk to him. Billy had been all Penny could think about for the past few days. She didn't know why, she was living the fairy tale ending she'd wanted. Simon had said that he hadn't heard from Billy since Sunday, and Penny was a little worried. Her stomach lurched when she thought he wouldn't show, but she chalked it up to the funny virus she seemed to be coming down with. She waited for two hours after her clothes were done, even resorting to running one load twice to stall. It didn't matter, Billy never showed.
"So, when is this Shindig?" Nicole asked, fluffing her curled blonde hair in the bathroom mirror behind Penny.
"At four." Penny replied passively, putting on mascara.
"Every thing's gonna be fine Penny, and afterwards, we'll do dinner." Penny brightened
considerably at that thought.
"Come on, you need to calm down. You're going to open a shelter today, then go to dinner with your boyfriend, and incredibly amazing room mate, and then said boyfriend will take you back to his house, and compromise you." Nicole said, casually applying lipstick. Penny thought the old fashioned term sounded strange, and when she didn't reply, Nicole shot her a worried look.
"You're not going to heave again are you?" Nicole asked urgently. Penny shook her head, the thought of vomiting again making her want to cry.
"Come on, we need to get going." Nicole picked up her pale friend and they walked out to the hall.
"Simon says his room mate will let us borrow his van." Nicole said, when they stopped outside the neighbors door.
"Simon!" She called as she knocked on the door.
"It's unlocked" Penny could hear Simon call through the door. Nicole turned the knob, and opened the door. He was standing awkwardly on the other side.
"Heh, I had a little trouble with the knob." He explained, giving Nicole a light hug, so he didn't ruin her ensemble by getting it wet..
"Well, we should get going!" Nicole said, urging both her friend and her date out into the hall.
"Mike! We're taking the van!" Simon called back before the door shut.
The van in question was a large black windowless utility van, with a huge, hot pink P emblazoned on the side. Penny spent the whole ride over wondering what it stood for, when she wasn't fearing for her life. Simon wasn't the best driver, and his 'overactive pores' caused the wheel to slip many, many times.
"Penny?" Nicole had to poke her shoulder to get her attention. "We're here." Penny stepped out of the side of the car, sliding the door shut absentmindedly.
"Penny?" Captain Hammer's voice rang out over the small crowd that had gathered outside of the building.
"You know, Nicole, I just remembered, I have this thing I have to go to, sorry bye!" Simon shouted out the van window, before peeling out of the parking lot.
"Sometimes, I wonder why I like him." Nicole muttered, staring after the van.
"Penny, what were you doing near that car?" Captain Hammer asked, sounding overly concerned.
"Nothing, why?" Penny realized she was whining like a teenager, and tried to compose herself.
"That's the Pink Pummeler's van. He's not a huge threat, but he's near the top of the henchmen's union, and generally not a safe person to be around." That struck a chord with Penny.
"Not safe like Billy?" She asked sharply, before stalking into the building.
There was nothing left to help with, so Penny just took her seat on the stage. She looked around what used to be the hotel dining room with pride. They had retiled the floor, and repapered the walls. There was a white board in the corner that somebody's kids had decorated with the Caring Hands logo, and Penny could make out a little bit of writing in the corner of the board that said 'we love Penny.' She felt herself tearing up again. Penny took some deep breaths to calm down.
"I know this must seem crazy," Penny said to the empty room. "But I don't know if I like my boyfriend as much as I should." She shook her head. She really was crazy.
"I mean, he chased off my best friend, and now I feel, just kind of lost, I guess." Penny shrugged. "I just kind of wish there was someone to tell me what to do now." Something shifted near the draped statue, and Penny gasped. She waited a few seconds, but nothing appeared.
"Penny Cooper?" The Mayor was at the door.
"Yes sir?" Penny asked.
"It's just nice to finally meet the biggest charity worker in L.A. That's all." He said, climbing the
steps and taking his seat.
"Well, thank you sir. I'm so grateful that you donated the building to us. It's such a huge relief to know that the homeless will have a place to be off the streets." The doors flew open, and Captain Hammer strode in, followed by reporters, and then the actual audience. Including, Penny noted with chagrin, the three people that had crashed Hammers house that one morning, she shuddered at the memory.
The mayor was given the signal to start the ceremony, and he walked to the podium.
"Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome to the grand opening of the Penny Cooper Homeless Shelter." Penny blushed, she didn't know that they had named the building after her.
"Only a week ago, a man came to me with this proposition. He explained how there are enough unfortunates in the city to need a new center, and he brought to my attention a charity who had enough means to refurbish this building, but not to buy it. Well, I told him 'of course you can use the building.' This man, and his charming girlfriend have been here for countless hours fixing up the place so we can use it to provide shelter to those less fortunate, and in just a few minutes, we'll unveil the statue of the man himself." The audience burst into applause. "Thank you, Thank you." 'Play nice.' Captain Hammer whispered into Penny's ear. 'Or you'll regret it.'
"Justice has a name. And the name it has, besides 'Justice', is Captain Hammer. Ladies and Gentlemen, your hero." Penny patted Captain Hammer's knee in encouragement she knew he didn't need.
"Thank you, thank you, Mayor, for those kind words." Captain Hammer pulled the cue cards Penny made him from his glove, and Penny felt relieved, he wasn't the best talker, and she didn't need the embarrassment that would come with Hammer trying to write his own speech.
"I hate the homeless." He started, and Penny could see the confused looks that flitted through the primarily homeless audience.
"--ness problem that plagues our city. Everyone should have the basic..." He trailed off. 'Everyone should have the basic commodities, that are necessary in leading a healthy well-adjusted life.' Penny mentally urged. If she had gotten enough signatures, it would have been her giving this speech. Penny bit her lip, trying to curb the overwhelming sense of disappointment. Instead of continuing on with his speech, Captain Hammer looked straight out into the audience and said.
"I don't need tiny cue-cards." Before Penny could do anything, the cards she had worked so hard on disappeared into his gloves again.
"When I fell deeply in love with my serious, long-term girlfriend Penny- wave your hand Penny." She did, absolutely mortified at the attention. Everyone already knew they were dating, he didn't need to bring it up in front of these people.
"There she is." He announced with pride. "Cute huh? Sort of a quiet, nerdy thing. Not my usual, but nice." Nicole was motioning for her to come off stage. Despite the earlier comment, Nicole had a strict sense of propriety, and the ceremony had already become too offensive. Penny shook her head no, but she wondered why she felt the need to stay. Captain Hammer was obviously only using her to look more humanitarian, and so he didn't have to worry about being followed by crazy one-night-stands, she assumed. She felt more comfortable with Billy, the man who bought her frozen yogurts, and made her laugh when she was sick, then she did with the man who had begun to pay her rent, and pose as her bodyguard. Penny rolled her eyes at his transparent speech. Lassie? Since when do people enjoy being compared to dogs?
"So I thank my girlfriend, Penny. Yeah, we totally had sex." Penny felt sick with the embarrassment of having her personal life put out for everyone to see, and decided to follow Nicole out at that moment. Anything the 'hero' Captain Hammer was planning on doing to make her 'regret' not playing nice, couldn't be worse the the intense embarrassment she was suffering right now. She got up and slowly edged her way off the side of the stage. Maybe, she hoped, Captain Hammer would stay so wrapped up in his speech, he wouldn't notice that she had gone. She was just going to sit outside until the end of the ceremony anyway, and she had been feeling sick, she practiced excuses as she tip-toed around the edge of the room. Captain Hammer was leading the audience in a sing-a-long version of his speech. She could see his little groupies practically fainting when he looked at them. Penny was so lost in her scrutiny, she ran into someone.
"Sorry." She whispered. "Simon?" She questioned. He was kneeling on the floor, slipping something under the tarp covering the statue.
"Penny, shouldn't you be up there with your Captain boyfriend or something?" Simon spluttered, trying to get up off the ground.
"I wasn't feeling too good, so I was headed outside. I thought you said you had a thing to get to?" Penny crouched down, and continued the whispered conversation.
"Oh, yeah. I still need to do that." He replied, getting up and sneaking out the propped open emergency exit. Penny was absolutely baffled by what happened, and decided the best thing to do would be to get out, and get some air. She continued on her way out, when her heel caught on a corner of the canvas, pulling it free from the monument, the heavy red sheet knocked Penny to the ground. Suddenly, an evil laugh filled the hall. Penny pushed the tarp off of her to see that what she had uncovered was not a statue of Captain Hammer, but the sadistic man in the lab coat that was responsible for all the changes in her life. The mood of the room had changed, there was a heavy blanket of tension, and Penny had the sinking feeling that she may not make it outside. But she started crawling to the door anyways.
Penny almost had a heart attack when the first shot was fired. There were people every where. Suddenly the villain's hypnotic spell was broken, and everyone was running for their lives. Penny stayed on the ground despite the crushed fingers she had to deal with, because as far as she could tell, the man was only firing into the ceiling.
"No sign of Penny, good, I would give anything not to have her see..." The use of her name caught Penny's attention, what could he possibly have to do with this rogue? She sat up to get a better look, and she could have sworn they made eye contact, he looked so familiar.
"It's gonna be bloody, head up Billy, buddy, there's no time for mercy." Penny's own words hit her so hard she almost vomited there in the room. Everything made sense now. All the cryptic little comments, the disappearing, and the increased hatred for Captain Hammer. It was Billy. Her best friend and this criminal were the same person. And now this person was going to kill her boyfriend. For what reason, she didn't know. And all she could do was sit back and watch. Billy leveled the gun and muttered something, before the same mechanical failing sound from the bridge dedication echoed off the walls. All at once, Hammer was unfrozen, had punched Billy so hard it sent him across the room, and the gun skidded haphazardly after it's owner. Penny started slinking along the wall, in a last ditch effort to get out, it was only her, Hammer and Billy now, but before she could move, an explosion of unbearable pain rocketed through her body.
"Penny, Penny." Someone was calling her. Penny tried to focus on where the voice was coming from, but she couldn't, she couldn't grasp anything but the pain that radiated from her chest.
"Billy?" She guessed, the pain making it hard to remember anything. "Is that you?"
"Penny, hold on!" Why did he sound so worried? There was a gun, Penny remembered. Did Billy get shot?
"Billy, are you alright?" She asked. It was so hard to breath, but she had to make sure Billy was okay.
"Hold on." Was the maniac still there? Penny wondered. No wonder Billy was so worried.
"It's okay, it's okay." Why was it so hard for her to speak?
"Captain Hammer will save us." She reassured him.
Then everything went dark.
Aww...
But you all knew that was coming, right? I have to say, I really do love the ending of the original story. It makes a person think...
Well, this is the end of Flipping the Coin, but stay tuned for the next story...
What if Dr. Horrible had killed Captain Hammer? Would he really get what he wanted?
"It Could Happen"
Coming Soon
Review!